Dame

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 Beryl Paston Brown, DBE (born 7 March 1909, London – died 25 July 1997, Lewes, East Sussex) was a British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 academic and educator.

Early years

Beryl Paston Brown was educated at Streatham Hill High School and Newnham College, Cambridge. She did a teacher training course in London, however the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 made it very difficult to secure a teaching post.

Homerton College

As Principal of Homerton College, Cambridge University, from 1961 to 1971, Paston Brown is credited with having developed a contemporary, relatively liberal social and academic life for students, as well as a teaching course degree which was validated by London University. A proposal for the establishment of the B.Ed to the Council of the Senate of Cambridge University was first turned down in 1966, for fear of lowering standards, but was eventually approved in the 1970s with the assistance of Newnham College.

Curriculum vitae

• Lecturer, Portsmouth Training College, 1933-37
• Lecturer, Goldsmiths' College, 1937-44, 1946-51
• Temporary Assistant Lecturer, Newnham College, 1944-46
• Principal, City of Leicester Training College, 1952-61
• Principal, Homerton College, 1961-71
• Chair, Association of Teachers in Colleges & Departments of Education, 1965-66

Affiliations

She belonged to the:

• Executive Committee of the Association of Teachers in Colleges and Departments of Education, serving as Chairman from 1965 to 1966 and edited its journal, Education for Teaching.
• Newsom Committee, which produced the report on secondary education, Half Our Future (1963)

Other

Beryl Paston Brown was named DBE in 1967. She retired to Lewes

Lewes

Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...

, East Sussex

East Sussex

East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...

, where she became an Open University tutor and was awarded an Open University

Open University

The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...

honorary degree.

External links

• http://www.informaworld.com/index/746387113.pdf Informaworld website
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Joyce Skinner, "Brown, Dame Beryl Paston (1909–1997)", online edition, first published Sept. 2004
• http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?search=as&grp=2031%3BCambridgeshire&lDate=&page=2&LinkID=mp85820&role=sit&rNo=0 National Portrait Gallery
• http://archiveshub.ac.uk/features/09051301.html Homerton College archived records site